Draw-gear and buffing apparatus for railway-cars.



No. 717,667. I PATENTED JAN. 6,1903. 0. B. FELT 8: D. ALKIMBARK.

DRAW GEAR AND BUFPIN G APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARS APPLIUATIQN FILED Dan/so, 1901.

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CHARLES E. FELT AND DANIEL KIMBARK, OF PULLMAN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TO ELECTRIC SPECIALTY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLI- NOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DRAW-GEAR AND BUFFING APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SEECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,667, dated January 6, 1903.

Application filed December 30, 1901. Serial No. 87,652. (No model.)

- tain new and useful Improvements in Draw- Gear and BuftingApparatus for Railway-Cars and other Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to means for absorbing the shocks and strains during the drafting and boiling movements of railway-cars and equivalent devices, and has more especial reference to that class of draw-gear and boiling apparatus in which the strain or jar is absorbed by a fluid subjected to compres sion by the strain orshock.

The invention has for its primary object to provide an improved and simple form otdrawgear and buffing apparatus of the described character in which the parts shall be reduced to the minimum in number and simplicity of construction, a further object being to resist the shock or strain by the combined cushioning effect of compressed air orgas and a gradually-escaping liquid.

With these ends in view our invention consists in certain features of novelty in the'con struction, combination, and arrangement of parts by which the said objects and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the claims;

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one end of a railway-car, partly in section, provided with our improved drawgear and bufing apparatus. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is a plan View thereof, partly broken away; and Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line at 4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating the modification hereinafter described; and Fig. 6 is a cross-section on the line 6 6, Fig. 5, showing the side bars in elevation.

In carrying out our invention we employ a double-ended cylinder, which, if desired,'may be cast in the form of a single casting and which comprises two cylinders or chambers 1 2, arranged in axial alinement with each other, and located therein is a double-ended piston com prising'two pistons 3 4, preferably formed in one piece and attached to or having formed thereon two laterally-projecting lugs 5, which extend through horizontal slots 6, formed in diametrically opposite sides of the cylinder, or, more accurately speaking, of the cylinder part of the casting which connects the two cylinders 1 2 together. The cylinders 1 2 are formed integrally with or secured to two supporting lugs or brackets 7, which may be bolted or otherwise secured to the under side of the car or other fixed part of the car-body, as shown in Fig. 1, while the lugs 5 are pivoted, respectively, to two links 8, which areconnected at their outer or forward ends in any suitable way to the usual draw-bar 9, by which the cars are coupled to- I gether.

The cylinders 1 2 are considerably longer than the' pistons 3 4, so that a considerable space is left at each end of this space, which is filled with glycerin, oil, water, or any other suitable liquid, which must be displaced in order to permit either piston to move from the central position, (shown in Fig. 2,) which may be maintained, if desired, by the usual or any suitable spring now employed on the draw bars of drafting attachments.

. The cylinder 1 is connected to the cylinder '2 by asmall by-pass 10, which may be cored out of the integral casting of which the cylinders are composed, and as viewed in Fig. 3 each end of this by-pass where it opens into the cylinder is narrower at its outer end than at its inner end, so that as the piston approaches the outer end of the opening or out- "let the passage will become more restricted, thus permitting the liquid to escape with a grad ually-increasing resistance until the bypass opening is entirely covered by the piston, when no more liquid can escape, the ends of the icy-pass, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, falling a little short of the outer ends of the cylinders, so as to leave a small cushion of liquid between the cylinder and the piston which cannot be expelled.

Communicating with each of the cylinders 1 2 is a small air-chamber 11, having a port 12, which opens into preferably the upper side of the cylinder. These air-chambers 11 are of considerably less capacity than the space between the outer ends of the cylinders and pistons, and their purpose is to provide a very elastic resistance for the initial part of the shock or strain, it being understood that the liquid in itself oifers only a dead resistance, unlike a spring, whereas the compression of the air or any other suitable gas which may be placed in the chambers 11 by the liquid crowding into the chambers in its effort to escape will afford an elastic resistance to the initial movement of the piston, thus making the action more like that of a spring.

In the form of our invention shown in Fig. 5 the by-pass instead of being formed in the casting of the cylinders is formed directly through the pistons. This by-pass is shown at 13, and in order that the gradually-closing effect of the by-pass, as heretofore described,

may be accomplished even in this form of the invention we provide opposite ends of the cylinder-casting with inwardly-projecting nee die-valves 14, which may be screwed or otherwise secured in the cylinder-heads and which are adapted to alternately close the by-pass as the piston moves toward them, the closing of the bypass being gradual, owing to the attenuated form of the valve, so that the same effect as that produced by the piston moving over a gradually-closing and tapering port, as before described, will be produced. In order, however, that the valves 14 may come to rest on their respective seats in the piston before the piston arrives at the end of the cylinder without danger of injuring the valves, it is preferable to provide the valve with some suitable form of cushion. In order to accomplish this, we have shown the valves provided with hollow stems 15, mounted upon pins 16, which are secured to the cylinder-heads, coil-springs 17 being interposed between the heads of the valves and the heads of the cylinders, and stops 18 being passed through slots 19 in the stems for limiting the action of the springs. By this means of connecting the cylinders together by a by-pass extending around the pistons it will be seen that the valves will completely close the by-pass before the piston reaches the end of the cylinder, thereby cutting off further escape of the liquid and constituting a cushion between the end of the piston and the cylinder-head, as before described.

While we have particularly described our invention in connectionwith a railway-car, it will nevertheless be understood that it is not confined to this special purpose or use and that it is equally applicable to all uses where the object to be accomplished is the absorption or gradual resistance of shocks 01' strains, the example given being the greatest field of usefulness at present known to us.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of two alined cylinders, two pistons arranged in said cylinders respectively, closed independent air-chambers communicating with said cylinders respectively, a liquid substantially filling said cylinders without filling said air-chambers, a by-pass connecting said cylinders together, and means for imparting motion to said pistons, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of two alined cylinders, a double-ended piston having its ends fitted in said cylinders respectively, a bypass passage formed directly through the piston and connecting said cylinders together around said piston, and cushioned valves supported in said cylinders for closing the ends of said passage respectively, substantially as set forth.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of two cylinders, closed air chambers independent of each other communicating with said cylinders respectively, pistons connected together and fitting in said cylinders respectively, and a liquid located in said cylinders but not filling said air-chambers, substantially as set forth.

CHARLES E. FELT. DANIEL A. KIMBARK.

Witnesses:

JOHN B. WEIR, W. D. ORoss. 

